Argentinian Spanish voice overs: what you need to know

Argentinian Spanish, most commonly called Rioplatense Spanish, is a Spanish language variety that’s spoken in parts of Argentina and Uruguay. Rioplatense Spanish is the official language in Argentina and Uruguay, with around 25 to 30 million native speakers.

The distinct Argentinian Spanish dialect is mostly used in the most populated Argentinian cities, including Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, La Plata, and Rosario. It’s considered that Uruguay also speaks this Spanish variety.

Argentinian Spanish is also spoken in Argentinian communities all over the world. The biggest part of the Argentinian diaspora resides in Spain, with numerous communities in The United States, Italy, France, and Chile.

Language History

Spanish was brought to the territories of today’s Argentina and Uruguay during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The first Spanish settlers arrived in Argentinian territory in the early 16th century.

The language of the settlers soon became the lingua franca of the region, replacing local indigenous languages. While in other South American territories, the Spanish language didn’t have much influence from other European languages, Argentinian Spanish was greatly influenced by massive immigration from Europe.

European immigrants from Italy (especially the Northern regions), Portugal, France, and Germany flocked to the new Spanish colony, altering the Spanish language that was spoken there.

The Italian influence on Argentinian Spanish is most notable to this day. In fact, the number of Italians that have traveled to Argentina and Uruguay is so vast, that approximately 60% of Argentines have Italian roots.

Argentinian Spanish vs. Other Spanish Varieties

Rioplatense Spanish greatly differs from other Latin American Spanish varieties. This difference arises from the influence of other European languages. While other Spanish variants, for example, Mexican or Colombian, were influenced by local native languages, Rioplatense adopted many Italian, Portuguese, and even French features.

Argentinian and Uruguayan Spanish variety has a unique vocabulary with many borrowings from Italian. While the majority of everyday words in other American Spanish variants are taken directly from European Spanish, the Argentinian dialect uses the Italian equivalents. Italian words such as mina (woman), biaba (perfume), and laburar (to work) are used instead of the Spanish ones.

Argentinian Spanish pronunciation is also significantly different from other neighboring Spanish varieties. In fact, Rioplatense Spanish intonation greatly resembles Italian dialects, most prominently the Neapolitan dialect. Additionally, Argentina is the largest country that uses the voseo form — the pronoun vos instead of tú.

Accents and Voice Over Tips

Since the Rioplatense Spanish variety spans the two countries, it has many regional varieties. There are four major dialect groups: Northern, Northeastern, Central, and Northwestern.

The spoken language greatly varies between the bigger cities and more rural regions. The standardized Argentinian Spanish that’s used in education, media, and politics is close to the dialect that’s spoken in Buenos Aires.

When recording an Argentinian Spanish voice over, pay close attention to its Italian-influenced intonation patterns and unique vocabulary. These two features make this Spanish variety a black sheep between all the Latin American language varieties.

Lastly, while the natural reading pace of (Iberian) Spanish is 160 words per minute, bear in mind that Argentinian Spanish tends to have a more deliberate rhythm, although this can vary by region and context.

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